Author | Lightnews

Star Chaser Farms @starchaserfarms.bsky.social · 13d

I’ve waited eleven weeks for this moment…

Big thank you to Southern Biophilliac Urban Farm for helping make my Snowflake Bobwhite dreams come true!

Now here’s hoping the other one is a girl 🤞🏽🤞🏽🤞🏽

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Star Chaser Farms @starchaserfarms.bsky.social · Aug 5

Radish update:

She big.

Our small gosling is looking so grown up as her feathers come in. Not to exclude anyone Bobby and Ginger are doing their summer molt so they look as rough as she does. 😅

Soon it will be hard to tell her and Ginger apart… I should probably get leg bands actually 🤔.

Three African geese are standing in front of wild grass. The gander is in the foreground while the adult goose is on the right. The gosling female Radish is on the left. The gander’s neck is extended as he stands guard for his flock.

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Star Chaser Farms @starchaserfarms.bsky.social · Aug 3

🦆Duck update 🦆

This summer we are welcoming the first generation of Muscovy hatched on our farm. Our friends over at Secret Garden Farms kicked us off with a small starter flock last summer and then we nabbed more duckling from them about a month later.

We let the ducks do what they wanted - not making any pairings or breeding choices, content to let them figure things out. Our sweet girl Nori was the first to hatch a clutch she sat on in an empty pot on the deck. She brought our first seven ducklings, then she adopted two more who hatched early from other clutches.

Out of the nine ducklings she raised we ended up with six drakes and three hens. This drake and two hens are being nudged closer into the “keeper” category every single day. I may have found a color to focus on going forward… or colors…honestly I’m still learning the colors and genetics. 😅

Either way these three are definitely worth taking time to stare at at chore time.

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Star Chaser Farms @starchaserfarms.bsky.social · Jul 9

Watching them walk around while Ginger teaches her how to goose is such a joy.

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Star Chaser Farms @starchaserfarms.bsky.social · Jul 9

My goose Ginger went broody a few months ago but none of her eggs ever developed. Since she refused to give up and kept sitting on the nest I ordered a gosling for her so she could be a mom.

Meet Radish. They took to each other immediately. And now Bob has a family to protect.

Photo of Radish, a African gosling leaning on Ginger, an African goose on a nest of straw

Photo of Radish and Ginger out for a walk with Bob the African Gander in front stretching out his neck to protect them.

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Star Chaser Farms @starchaserfarms.bsky.social · Jul 2

I give up on my chocolate Muscovy hens. After 1 day of having ducklings Tiramisu decided that the juvenile ducklings must be hers actually and she abandoned her kids. 🤦🏽‍♀️

Thankfully Pudding Pop is an absolute unit of a mom. Though head count at sundown is a bit rough now with all the tiny zoomies. 😅

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Star Chaser Farms @starchaserfarms.bsky.social · Jun 27

Meanwhile Tiramisu has been hanging out cooking her eggs in a random bin.

Apparently they’re also done. 😅

Current Muscovy duckling count: 24

Photo of a chocolate Muscovy hen standing guard over several ducklings in their nest.

Star Chaser Farms @starchaserfarms.bsky.social · Jun 27

After being mostly MIA (not really she was just hiding under the house) for over a month my little Pudding Pop has come out with 7 small fluffy Muscovy ducklings in tow.

Good job Pudding.

Photo of a Black Muscovy hen with seven ducklings on a bed of grass.

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Star Chaser Farms @starchaserfarms.bsky.social · Jun 13

Holding on to the small moments of joy whenever they appear.

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Star Chaser Farms @starchaserfarms.bsky.social · Jun 4

…did I mention we added quail to the farm?

These tiny birds are amazing. Definitely happy to have finally added the livestock I originally planned to start with. 😅

Still waiting on other hatching eggs to ship but so happy to have these full grown ones already. Eight weeks flew by…

A splash quail with white feathers sitting on top of a wooden box with green foliage in the background.

Two splash quail standing next to hardware cloth.

A jumbo brown quail sitting next to a branch with green foliage trailing down it.

A splash quail standing next to a purple feeder looking at the camera. Several other quail are in the background.

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Star Chaser Farms @starchaserfarms.bsky.social · Jun 3

In the chicken keeping world it’s advised to never have a favorite because the second you give one that title it’s equivalent to putting a red shirt on them and telling them to have fun on their away mission.

So I don’t have favorites.

I just think this one is neat.

Photo of a chicken sitting on a hand. The chicken has brown and black feathers with a black crown of feathers on her head.

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Star Chaser Farms @starchaserfarms.bsky.social · Jun 2

I wish to be as care free as a duckling playing in a muddy puddle.

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Star Chaser Farms @starchaserfarms.bsky.social · May 31

While these aren’t the first ducklings hatched out this year they are the ones I’ve been waiting on the most.

Mainly because Nori decided to lay a nest in an empty planter on my deck. 😒

After over a month they’re finally here. Which means I can power wash my deck now. 🫠

(Ft: Gajeel aka Mr. Dad)

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Star Chaser Farms @starchaserfarms.bsky.social · Mar 13

The final chick has hatched. Five adorable fluff balls and one tired but happy hen. Darling did a fantastic job for a first time broody - staying with it for an extra week even! - so now we get to see how she does as a first time mom.

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Star Chaser Farms @starchaserfarms.bsky.social · Mar 12

The first chicks of 2025 have hatched! Darling is a tired but happy momma - who is getting an egg and grub scramble later to help replenish her nutrients after a MONTH of being broody. She’s hatched out three tiny fluff balls, here’s hoping they’re pullets! 🤞🏽

Close up of a white hen with black beak and comb. Her eyes are closed and there is a chick partially sticking out underneath her.

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Star Chaser Farms @starchaserfarms.bsky.social · Mar 11

Darling has been broody for around a month - the eggs she originally had weren’t viable so my mister braved the snow and ice to pick up some hatching eggs for her as soon as we could. I wasn’t sure if she’d keep at it past the normal three week mark but she is fiercely determined to be a momma.

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Star Chaser Farms @starchaserfarms.bsky.social · Mar 11

After an extra week (explanation to follow) my little Darling is almost done sitting on her nest and it sounds like the chicks are ready to meet her.

Did you know chicks will call to each other while hatching? It’s like they’re saying “We can do this!” Here’s hoping hatching goes well! 🤞🏽

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Star Chaser Farms @starchaserfarms.bsky.social · Mar 1

I would like the record to show that she has access to a full pond that is less than a two minute walk away.

🤷🏽‍♀️

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Star Chaser Farms @starchaserfarms.bsky.social · Feb 28

I can’t wait to see what this year’s hatching will bring. 🥰

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Star Chaser Farms @starchaserfarms.bsky.social · Feb 28

I’m fairly certain there are still hens not back online after the winter break but almost everyone is laying and the fruits of a year’s worth of adding to the flock are showing.

I’ve got lots of hatching eggs on order and the first round (right picture) are already in the incubator. 🤞🏽

Two dozen multicolor eggs sit in cartons on a countertop

A mix of green and brown hatching eggs labeled with type sit in a carton.

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Star Chaser Farms @starchaserfarms.bsky.social · Feb 1

Thank you! Besides providing for my family I’m hoping the farm lets me share beautiful things to give folks something to smile at once in a while.

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Star Chaser Farms @starchaserfarms.bsky.social · Feb 1

For the record, there was an empty nest box next door. But they both wanted the “favorite”. 🙄

A Blue Laced Red Wyandotte hen sitting in a nest box with a Wheaten Ameraucana squeezed in on the left side. All you can see of the wheaten is the fluffy butt and part of her face looking back towards the nest box entrance.

Four eggs laying on a nest pad. One brown with darker brown speckles, two blue, and one tan.

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Star Chaser Farms @starchaserfarms.bsky.social · Jan 14

The ladies are in their pastel phase today.

Also got surprise speckles on the green egg. They look pink until you wet the bloom and discover the flecks are actually brown.

I love the artistry of nature.

A hand holding three eggs. Clockwise from upper left is a pink egg, a blue egg, and a speckled green egg.

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Star Chaser Farms @starchaserfarms.bsky.social · Jan 9

Winter finally hit this month and after an arctic blast dropping temps we’re getting some snow. I’m thankful for more water to slowly replenish the land and our aquifer.

The birds are having a blast with the frozen water falling from the sky too. I honestly don’t know who’s happier - them or me.

Photo of African geese and Saxony ducks in the snow. The gander is in the foreground standing very aerodynamically with his neck stretched out.

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Star Chaser Farms @starchaserfarms.bsky.social · Jan 3

Meet my newest farm hand - Callie Coco.

She’s about three months old and is the litter mate to my Benimaru. She’s warmed up to me finally and has apparently fallen in love with Chopper. He seems to be catnip to female cats. 🤷🏽‍♀️

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